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What’s on your list? You know, the running one you keep in your head, in a series of Post-It notes spread across all surfaces of your life, or if you are particularly scary kooky, on a spreadsheet? Me, I’ve got several lists. There’s the Apartment Want This list, because, oh, how I covet the home furnishings; the Go Here list, which holds my in- and outside NYC destination dreams; the Read This list, which I pretty much avoid, and the Listen to This list with all of the music I would like to download and shake my booty arrhythmically to were I not fascistly opposed to DRM.

Then there is the Cook This list, all 300+ items long. This one neither makes me feel bad about my financial limitations (like the Apartment list), vacation time availability (like the Go Here list), my Web-ruined attention span when it comes to content running more than 500 words (like the Read This list), or what happens when you let a bunch of people in board rooms decide how music should be sold (like the Listen list). Sure, I don’t have time to get to all of the items on the Cook This list, but that’s not the point.

Thus, let me humbly suggest that you add a Leek Swiss Chard Tart to your list or lists, in whatever format they may be. I had bookmarked this for more months than I care to dwell on, and then made it two days before we had a chance to eat it and still, it has absolutely saved us at dinnertime twice this week. To me, a quiche and a few salad greens, perhaps a bit of something pickled and, oh, why not, a decadent slice of cheese in the fridge is all I could ever need or want to subsist on. It is both Brunch and Dinner. It tastes as good the third day as it did the first.

It is one less thing on a list, and this alone is something to celebrate.

Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add leeks and thyme. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover; cook until leeks are very tender but not brown, stirring often, about 10 minutes. Add chard; saute until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 425°F. Whisk cream and next 5 ingredients in large bowl. Mix in cooled leek mixture. Pour filling into crust.

Bake tart 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350°F and bake until filling is puffed and just set in center, about 15 minutes longer (this took my oven about 10 minutes longer). Transfer to rack; cool 10 minutes.

Hey! Congrats on the nomination! And its the photographs that addicted me to this site. (Not that the droolingly wonderful recipes donâ€™t keep me coming back for more!)

I just finished a batch of blue chip chocolate chip cookies, and they have to be the best cookies Ive ever made! Thankyou for being such a joy to read, and giving me my own â€˜listâ€™ of recipes to look forward to.

MK
# Sophia January 24, 2008
3

yum, the tart looks good. i never seem to find chard though. i might try it with spinach.
# NuJoi January 24, 2008
4

This looks so good! I love the idea of a Cook This list. 300 items?! Iâ€™m looking forward to reading them all.
# Bridget January 24, 2008
5

I love the â€œThings to Cookâ€ list! Itâ€™s so much more fun, and easy, to plan meals and desserts with a list like that. I have to admit that instead of putting individual Smitten Kitchen recipes on my list, I just keep in mind that I want to make just about everything on the site. Ack.

It looks very impressive. The Husband loves leeks but he has fallen into a bit of a pattern with what he does with them. I shall waive this tart under his nose and see if he takes the bait (if not, I may have to take it for him).
# Kitt January 24, 2008
7

Yum!

I will go vote for you, but linkâ€™s busted. (DRM on is, too.)

Bloggies link
# JEP January 24, 2008
8

I would love to have this for a weekend brunchâ€¦amazing photos, too! Congratulationsâ€¦Iâ€™m rootinâ€™ for ya!
# Elizabeth January 24, 2008
9

I have all those lists too. But my To Cook list is pretty short : the crab cakes on sweet potato biscuits I used to eat at Zanzibar in Ann Arbor, an egg, bacon, waffle sandwich Iâ€™ve been conceptualizing, whatever varieties of the No Knead bread I can come up with, starting with raisin, the eggs poached in tomato sauce served with spinach and toast I just saw on Martha this morning, chocolate cake, and the christmas meal from Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the christmas meal from Edna Lewisâ€™ Taste of Country Cooking. Those last two I wonâ€™t be making any time soon, I donâ€™t have anyone to eat all that food!
Oh, and every single one of your recipes, of course!
# deb January 24, 2008
10

Thanks Kitt â€” Links are fixed. I forgot to turn smart-quotes off on my new computer! Dâ€™oh.

Well, this is (kind of) funny. I voted for you in the Food & Photography categories…but I’m getting those cute little question marks in a tiny blue box in place of all the photos in today’s post (Safari on a Mac’s way of saying WTF?). Funny, huh?
Congratulations! Your photos, when they’re there, ARE really superb.

Rats!!! I wish I had clicked over here earlier. I bought some gorgeous organic Swiss chard today and this would have been a great way to use it. Instead, I just sauteed it with garlic and evoo. It was delicious, but I would have loved to have made your tart. It looks wonderful!

This looks wonderful – fantastic photgraphy! I think I’ll add this to my ever-expanding list of things to make… but, will have to get to it sooner rather than later, since my boys both love these type of dishes. Whenever I am making a frittata, they both get so excited, so I am sure they’ll love this one.

This is something I will definitely make. It’s beautiful and sounds soooo tasty. I’ll have to make it the next time I’m going to someone’s house so I don’t eat it all myself! I’m off to vote for you now. :-)

This looks awesome. I’ve been really wanting to make a quiche lately but haven’t found one I thought I could pull off yet. :) A bit embarrassed to admit though, I don’t actually think I know what swiss chard tastes like…

I’m glad this beatiful dish made it off the list- it looks scrumptious! I, like you, have endless lists. I agree with you, about the cooking list- it doesn’t have the limitations some of the other lists do, like the I want to travel (bora bora), or my shoe list (loubutins)! lol
That’s another reason why blogging about food is such a good hobby-
Happy Cooking!

i have never met a quiche i didn’t like (well, except that smoked salmon one, but i should’ve known better). this looks delicious and uses two of my favorite veggies. i love the textural difference between the two in your photos.

Congrats on the photography entry but….HUH??? Why oh WHY did you not get nominated for the Food blog award. I’m shocked, I of course entered you in and don’t stop TALKING about your site. Without a doubt the best food blog I have come across in YEARS…gosh it’s like crack to me, I get at least a few hits of your site per day ha ha ha.

I voted for you!!! :) Although I was disappointed not to see you in the best food blog category…

That tart looks lovely and swiss chard is my favorite leafy green. I have several go-to recipes for it. I also have an eggless quiche recipe that might work nicely with the leeks and swiss chard although I originally posted it using sorrel and goat cheese… every quiche or savory tart should include goat cheese! :-) I’ll put this recipe on my burgeoning list right now. Thanks!

Mmm. Looks delicious. I’m definitely pro-chard, and I can find all the ingredients here, but I also need *need* NEED to know what you put it that oh-so-purty salad in the background. Is it radicchio and leeks? Is it red cabbage? Is there dressing? My taste buds of imagination say this meal would like a little something acidic, but not too, so as to contrast with but NOT interfere with le quiche fabulousness. A recipe is not necessary, but a back of the napkin description (someday) would be very much appreciated by at least one regular reader! Thanks, Deb.

Sarita — I’m not going to be great at describing it, because I’ve only used it a few times but I find the taste fairly neutral and harmless–like spinach. I’m sure if I just sauteed it, its true flavor might be more evident.

Kate — I had intended to dollop a little goat cheese on the tart once baked, but actually forgot! I bet it would be a wonderful addition.

KT — After much Googling, I have found your answer (turns out a lot of people don’t know what it is, myself included), thanks to this site. The writer says:
Dessertspoon = dsp
As I rule of thumb I use
1 dsp = 2 tsp
1 tblsp = 2dsp

PoaM — If you click over to the Flickr page where each photo is hosted, you should see an option to view the EXIF data (“More Properties”), which I keep turned on and open to the public. Let me know if you can’t access it.

Cricket — It is very thinly sliced endive and radicchio. My basic viniagrette is a little honey, a bit of dijon mustard, a glug of sherry or champagne vinegar and a little more of olive oil, whisked. Sometimes, if I’m feeling fancy, I add a truffle salt but even without it, it’s a great go-to vinigrette.

First, this looks fantastic. Second, Jeannie’s right about Amazon. Third, two additional alternatives to iTunes’ DRM and proprietary format – eMusic (subscription service, which I love, and I believe is still giving out 50 free downloads when you sign up) and AudioLunchbox (which I haven’t used recently, but offers subscriptions or single songs – I stick with eMusic because it will let you redownload songs you’ve downloaded once, as often as you’d like, from any computer).

I love Post-its! My list is stuck all over the inside of my computer desk – multi colored post-its with different colored ink. It somehow makes a List (with a capital L) not so intimidating. Can’t wait to try the tart!

Hah! I totally have ALL OF THOSE LISTS! The restaurants to try around town, cities around the world to visit, songs to download off iTunes, the recipes (along with page numbers and which issue) from magazines I want to try, the things to do, stuff for the house, everything! Only they are in assorted notebooks/Word files/scribbled Post-Its.

I just made your spinach quiche (after having it on my to-make list for, um, ever) and loved it. I just thought to myself, I should look for other quiche recipes but let me just see what Deb is up to… Perfect timing. Hopefully it won’t take me a year to make this one.

I tried this last night – so good!! Though i made a few substitutions, didn’t have any swiss chard so I added Gruyere cheese (ok not a linear substitution, but delicious nonetheless) This combo was absolutely fantastic! Plus I finished off the whole dinner with a rustic apple-raspberry tart, to die for! I really do think that may have been one of my most successful attempts at cooking (my talents truly are baking, so I’ll just leave it at cooking!)
Also, my leek-tart (which my family has argued should only be called a Quiche, quite heavily in fact!) took quite some time to cook as well! Therefore I think it is safe to say we can change the entire recipe and round it off saying bake it for 40 minutes minimum! Otherwise, as in my case, you wind up with a beautifully cooked outside and totally liquid centre – and cutting becomes an issue!
Seriously delicious!

Deb,
‘Re: your folding comment, lucky girl that I am…rec’d a cuisinart kitchen machine for my Birthday…it has a gentle fold programme on it….let me tell you I am in love with this machine…I love it better than the kitchen aid

Darcy — Yes! In fact, thanks for reminding me. My father, who is perennially on the Atkins wagon, came over for lunch last month and I made spinach quiche without a crust just by baking it in a pie plate that I had sprayed with cooking oil. It worked out much better than I thought. Btw, if it is not bread, but making a crust that puts you off, you might consider tossing some bread cubes or homemade croutons in there before baking it–it could work out to be more of a strata.

this tart was so yummy! the flavors were spot on. i don’t eat eggs – so i used tofu instead – and added a light sprinkling on grated manchengo on top for the last 10 min of cooking. thanks for the great recipe!

Made this last night (and I can’t wait till lunch so I can have the left-overs!)…. Like you Deb I meant to add some cheese (I was going to put in some left over Fontina) but I totally forgot- but it was still rockingly tasty!!! Love you pictures.

I made this today, and it came out beautifully! I’m so happy you put up this recipe. This was my first attempt at making a tart since my very first time several years ago (which was completely inedible by the way), and I’m so excited about the results. I feel like there’s no longer any point in going out and ordering quiche when I can make a very good one at home. Thanks so much!

I made this last night with gorgeous leeks I got at farmer’s market. The custard was delightful and it had a lovely texture. I didn’t have puff pastry so I did an olive oil tart crust instead. Although it came out a bit too crusty, the flavors all worked well together. Yum!

I just made this! I had to make a bunch of changes due to materials, and my tart ended up crustless and in individual muffin cups! haha. Still delicious though! I like to blog about my adventures in the kitchen as well, and have referenced you and your blog as inspiration many times! Thank you for the great recipes!

I made this last night with a full bunch chard, some cream & milk, 4 whole eggs (just b/c I have too many whites around the house already!), and about 1/3 cup feta cheese.
It was SUPER rich. A bit much for me, although my boyfriend enjoyed it. He said it was like eating dessert for dinner … not quite sure what he meant, but his plate was clean!

Fantastic! I used whole milk and made a whole wheat/olive oil crust (recipe from 101 cookbooks) and it turned out to be Mother’s Day hit! However, please don’t do as I did, and inadvertently bake it in a tart pan with a removable bottom… Of course, the egg/milk mixture seeped from the pan and I now have curdled eggs everywhere in my oven… Fortunately, the tart set relatively fast at 425 degrees so I didn’t loose too much filling! Many thanks for this beautiful dish.

Hi. Leeks await in my garden. Do you have a link to a tart dough recipe? The only one I could find on your site is a sweet tart dough. BTW, your recipes are amazing. Most recent is the (bleu) cheese and scallion biscuits. (I substituted cheddar for bleu). You’re right (again); they are delicious even when previously frozen.

Sue — I’m a big, big fan of the crust used here. It doesn’t need to be par-baked and it barely shrinks. Some people have had trouble bringing the dough together, it is very dry, but it will come together with a little kneading and I now use it exclusively.

does your website have a “Cook This” feature, where we can add them to a “recipe box” or something?

I come to you first whenever I’m in the mood to try something new. Or like today, when I got swiss chard in my Veggie Box and didn’t know what to do with it! This tart is what I’ll do with it. Thanks!
Sara in Key West

Hi Deb, I made this tart recently and it was divine. I have been drowning in greens from our CSA this cold spring, so I have spent a lot of time in your recipe index. So I am really writing about this tart, your chard and white bean stew, creamed chard, and spagetti with chard and garlic. I cannot thank you enough for providing some variety for my family during chard-o-rama. As a thank you, I wanted to point you to this chard recipe. It started as an Alice Waters recipe in a post from Louisa (of Wednesday Chef), but this person evolved it to new heights with fennel! I hadn’t heard of this blog, this was a Tastespotting find. I think you might like it!

I too have had an over abundance of greens from the CSA I joined and with leeks, chard and kale among this week’s take I started searching through your recipe index. I used the kale and leeks for the tart and made a very simple pie/tart dough. I must confess that I did add a little cheese, which was tasty, but it certainly didn’t need it. I’m not much of a tart or quiche maker so I was very happy when it turned out perfectly (just needed to be in the oven a bit longer than the recipe called for) and my husband and I have been eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Thanks again for another amazing recipe–I froze dough for an extra crust so will definitely be making another rendition later this summer or fall.

This was delicious, but I would go with Deb’s use of the tartdough over the puff pastry. Because the PP doesn’t ‘puff’, as Natalie said above, for me the texture is all wrong. The crust is just a buttery mess. After two other times trying to use puff pastry as pie/quiche crust, I have concluded that that’s really not where it deserves to be used. Puff pastry should shine! The filling however, is amazing, and I already have a request from my husband to make it again.

‘Chard’ needs to be corrected in the recipe title here. Thanks–I’m making this as a dinner side tonight. (Can’t explain why I expected this tart to have cheese in it! I guess for me the word Swiss is a mnemonic for cheese, Federer and army knives!)

I recently found your blog after joining a CSA and looking for new things to make with new-to-me ingredients. This is absolutely delicious!! I’m just finishing a piece for lunch, my first bites of the finished product. I have a massive amount of fresh thyme, so used it and added a few very ripe cherry tomato halves on top. Goodness, I love leeks! Your site is beautiful. Thanks.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe and have made it many times and recommended it to many friends (who also love it). However, my husband was recently diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease and a wheat allergy (at age 44! Ugh!) so I made this with an almond flour tart crust from http://www.elanaspantry.com/gluten-free-tart-crust/. It was AMAZING with this recipe — the nuttiness in the almond flour was a perfect compliment to the leeks and chard. So, whether or not you need a gluten free recipe, I highly recommend the almond tart crust as an alternate version.

So I know this post is a few years old, but I just made this last night and it was awesome. I found the recipe while searching for something to do with the leeks and chard I got in my last CSA box. This tart was delicious. My husband agreed. I know my other family members would love it, so it’s definitely in the books for future family get-togethers.

This is my go to meal whenever we get chard in our CSA. I’m not normally a fan of chard (or many greens, frankly), but this recipe brings out the best in the chard. Plus, the leeks are rich and delicious. We usually replace the cream with skim milk to make this a little less indulgent and that works very well.

Trying this today with Lactose Free 2% milk (butter is naturally low lactose, so for my lactose intolerant mom this should work)…Looking to serve it with the exact same radicchio and endive salad with a vinaigrette! Ill let you know how the lactose free milk version turns out..
Also (for lack of time and proper kitchen equipment, cause if not I love making my own) I bought the puff pastry tart shell that already comes in a 9inch pie plate….

Substituted spinach for chard, cut the whipping cream in half with skim milk, and threw in the whites when it said just yolks (seems a shame to waste them). This was a very nice, foolproof, easy and quick recipe. Next time I might add a little extra “zip” … maybe some diced up red pepper or something.

You didn’t hear it from me, but… this recipe fits very nicely across two Tenderflake deep dish pie shells (Deb, I make your pastry recipes all the time but last night I needed an extra-quick meal!). Since they are shallower, they were fully cooked in less time (about 15 minutes at 425, then only about 5 mins at 350).

I made this last night, and it was a great success with my normally meat-loving family … my crust (puff pastry) began to brown after about 15 minutes, so I covered the edges with foil for the remaining baking time. Next time, I will add some goat cheese on top, I think, or perhaps some bacon. Great recipe and fast process. I have the “Smitten Kitchen” cookbook and use it all the time. You have such great, usable recipes that don’t require many special tools and machinery (all of mine are currently in storage due to impending kitchen renovation). Everything I have made has been a success, and all of the recipes are open to personal changes and improvisations. Thanks for letting us take part in your cooking journey, it’s a lot of fun reading your blog and cookbook.

I had such high hopes after reading everyone’s glowing reviews, but ended up having to cook this for an hour and fifteen minutes (at 425 for 15 minutes and 350 thereafter) before it even began to morph from liquid to firm in the middle.

My teenage son found your website and shared it with me. (He doesn’t cook, he just likes to eat.) This recipe ties with asparagus pizza for our favorite recipe from your blog and cookbook. It is so good and so forgiving of adjustments and alterations.

Hi! Do you think it would be possible to make the filling and refrigerate it overnight and then pour it into the crust the next morning to bake? I’ve made this for brunch before but sometimes I don’t want to have to wake up that early and I thought I’d ask if you’d tried making it the night before (I tried making the whole quiche the night before but it got sort of damp in the fridge so that’s why I’m hoping to leave the baking until the morning).

I made this tonight and it was one of the best quiche i had! Even my boyfriend who is nkt a fan of quiche of eggs in general liked it. But clearly i did something wrong… maybe my oven isn’t heating enough? It took a while to finally cook through, i left it there for at least an extra 15 minutes than recommanded and the middle of the dought still did crisp up at all but the edge were about to burn.
I will try to make it with less milk maybe? I used a frozen pie crust so maybe ill let it get to remperature or par bake ot next time? I will still make it again because it was sooo good!

My go to recipe! Love this and make it several times while we have chard growing in our garden. I sometimes add some mushrooms which I saute and crumbled bacon. I discovered sprinkling fresh grated Parmesan on top when turning the oven temp down is a nice addition!

Deb, I’m a latecomer to your blog so I’ve just recently been trying your recipes. I have now tried to make this tart in two different ovens and both times the eggs are still nearly entirely liquid- not even close to done- after half an hour of cooking (15 min at 425 and 15 min at 350). It doesn’t seem like anyone else has had this problem and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I’d appreciate any suggestions you might have.

(So sorry for the late response.) Is it possible that your chard is just more watery or wasn’t wrung as well? Because that’s exactly what it would seem like if there was extra liquid — like it took forever to set.

I just made this and it’s awesome!! I used filo instead of puff pastry because my grocery store didn’t have any (independent produce markets with a heavy import focus are strange, wonderful, but fickle beasts). Anyway, it turned out way better than I thought but I think puff pastry is the right choice generally!

My eggs are also a little looser than I hoped they’d be after 30 minutes but it still tastes amazing so I’m not complaining! It’s been awhile since I made an SK recipe and I’m excited to get back into it.

I LOVE this recipe and have made it happily a number of times! I’d love to bring it to a friend as she recovers post-surgery, but her family has a milk allergy (butter OK). Can you substitute anything for the cream/milk (e.g. almond milk) with success?